It's good to see you tonight. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter
25. Psalm 25. Psalm chapter 25, I'd like to
read verses 1 through 5. Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on Thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me Thy ways, O Lord. Teach
me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth. and teach
me. For Thou art the God of my salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day."
Let's pray together. Our Father, how we thank You
this evening for another time to be able to come together and
hear the Word of God. Lord, truly as the psalmist prayed
Lord, teach us. Lead us in Your truth. By Your
blessed Spirit, reveal unto us Christ and the Holy Scriptures. And these things we ask for Christ's
sake. Amen. For just a moment before we have
the Lord's Supper, I'd like to Look at the fifth verse that
we just read. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me. For Thou art the
God of my salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day. Whenever a soul, whenever the
soul, the heart, the new man, the mind, that regenerated part
of a believer. Whenever a believer is drawn
to seek the Lord, it's because the Lord has caused that seeking
soul to long after Christ. Whenever you find yourself looking,
seeking, Almighty God has done something for you. It's by His grace that we desire
instruction from Him. You know that's so. We don't find within ourselves,
even after conversion, remember this, without me you can do nothing. He draws us. Now that desire, that longing, that hungering,
that thirsting was vitally brought to the forefront of my mind this
past Sunday. And I wanted to share with you
that which happened to me, and I pray by the grace of by the
mercy of God that He might teach all of us something of His marvelous
compassion to His people. I was preaching out of Proverbs
10 last Sunday, and the last verse This is where we ended. Verse
15. And this is what Proverbs 10,
15 says, The rich man's wealth is his strong city. The destruction
of the poor is their poverty. As I was trying to deal with
that passage of Scripture, there were certain things that I seemed
to understand. I seemed to understand the part
of the rich man's wealth, his strong city. I know that for the unbeliever,
I know that riches are really not a strong city. But the unbelieving
rich man thinks that it is with all of his trust in his money,
in his lands, in his wealth. And he's got a false security
in that. I seem to understand that. But there was something about
that last part, the destruction of the poor, is there poverty
that seemed to be veiled to me. There was something about that
that just didn't bear to my heart with understanding. And I knew it. Now, if you want
to think back on it, if you remember, I just didn't deal with it. I
just didn't say anything. Didn't know what to say. And
the best thing to do if you don't know is don't say anything. Don't
try to make up something. But what happened when it seemed
to be veiled to me was within my heart there was created a fearful longing to know. There was a veil, there was a
cloud over that particular part of that scripture. And so, what could I say? Immediately after the service,
I went back into the study asking, seeking. Lord, I didn't know what to say. I
didn't know. And in the indescribable mercy
of Almighty God, and I'm not saying that I understand the
fullness of it, but in the mercy of Almighty God, I believe that
the Lord gave me some understanding into what that Scripture meant.
And it was after I was finished preaching. And this is what I'll
share with you, what I believe that it means. That's not the
essence of this message. Let me tell you what I think
it means. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. Now,
to the unbelieving rich man, he glories in his riches. We
understand that. But the destruction of the poor
is their poverty means this, at least in part. The unbelieving
sinner on the opposite end of the spectrum, despairs because
he has nothing in this world that he thinks will sustain him. The unbelieving rich man doesn't
trust God because he trusts his riches. The unbelieving poor
man doesn't trust God either because all he's got his mind
set on is, I don't have any money. I don't have anything to hold
me up. I have nothing whatsoever to sustain me." Both ends of
the spectrum, rich or poor, to an unbeliever, they will not
trust God. Now, to a believer, to those
spiritually enlightened, now they do have riches. The Scripture reveals in James
2, 5, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? If a man that God's called out
of darkness has some money, God's given him some sense to not set
his heart on them. He knows that. He knows that
they're fleeting. I guarantee you, you can look
at any checking account, any man who is a believer, And I'm
telling you, he realizes, he knows in his heart, I could lose
this just as quickly as I got it. So to the believer who is
rich in this world, he's rich in faith. Heirs of the kingdom
which he hath promised to them that love him. And how about
being spiritually poor? Now the unbelieving poor, he
despairs. I don't have anything. I have
nothing to do, but the scripture sets forth that being poor, poor
spiritually, now that's a blessing. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Poor in my ability to help myself. What a blessing. What a blessing
that Almighty God would teach. Not only does the Lord settle
our hearts, when He leads us, when He settles our heart, when
He teaches us and comforts us. Here is what I learned. As the psalmist asked, Lord teach
me, Almighty God in His infinite mercy and grace may just veil
some Scripture to you. He may just hide His face, hide
that understanding, and you want to know. A believer that reads
something that the Lord has not given him some light on, you
want to know. You want to know what it means.
And you'll seek after Him. Isn't it wise on His part to
draw us to Himself by veiling something? and causing us to
create a hunger and a thirst in my heart to search after Him. I'm going to tell you something.
When I was standing here last Sunday morning, and in my heart
could not come to an understanding of what that meant, that creates
a longing to know what it means. In closing, I want to share three
things with you that we're taught concerning why He graciously
draws us to seek Him out in His Word. And when the psalmist said,
Lord, teach me, lead me, I'm going to tell you something.
There is no teaching, there is no leading apart from His Word. Three things. Here's the first
thing. Because in ourselves, this is
why He leads us, because in ourselves we are incapable of understanding
the Scriptures without divine revelation. Years and years and years of
study and searching and seeking does not mean that a man is going
to understand everything in the Word of God, because he doesn't.
We know in part. We see in part. We preach in
part. Only Christ was given the Spirit
without measure. I'm a needy, seeking sinner saved
by the grace of God. He leads us to seek after Him
when He veils understanding of His Word. Listen to this. Luke 24, 32, And they said one
to another, Did not our heart burn within us as He talked with
us by the way, and why He opened unto us the Scriptures? Almighty
God is going to have to open Scriptures to a man's heart.
Here's the second reason. He draws us to His Word. because the scriptures are the
final word of authority. Act 1711. These were more noble
than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with
all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether
those things were so. If you want to know if something
is so, search the scriptures. If Almighty God has not given
you light on a Scripture, search the Scriptures. Ask. Seek. Knock. He said it will
be open to you. How wise is our God to cause
us to cry unto Him, Lord, help me. Lord, I need your light. I need your understanding. I
need your teaching. Lord, I have no ability in myself
to understand these things. Lord, You show me. Your Word
is the final Word. And then thirdly, He draws us
to the Scriptures because they speak of Christ. Also to the two on the road to
Emmaus, it says, In beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. The Lord told the Jews, He said,
Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of Me. The psalmist said,
Lead me in thy truth. And he knows how to lead us. Teach me, for thou art the God
of my salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day."
How merciful is our God to teach us, to draw us to Himself, to
show us of our need of Him. And then when He opens unto us
the Scriptures and we see it, oh, how, as those two on the
road to Emmaus said, did not our heart burn with us. Lord,
thank You for showing me that. You're the great revealer. Lord,
it is by Your Spirit that You open my eyes, open my eyes that
I might see the things of Christ that You have revealed to me.
Oh, that He might be pleased to teach us something tonight.
For Christ's sake, amen. I'll ask the men if they'll come.